


Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon

by Pegaltan



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Historical, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arranged Marriage, M/M, Rating May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:46:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22521217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pegaltan/pseuds/Pegaltan
Summary: When he comes of age, Daichi is married off to the stoic heir of Shiratorizawa, Ushijima Wakatoshi.
Relationships: Oikawa Tooru & Sawamura Daichi, Oikawa Tooru/Sawamura Daichi, Sawamura Daichi/Ushijima Wakatoshi
Comments: 7
Kudos: 38





	Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon

**Author's Note:**

> Title from 花鳥風月 which means literally flower, bird, wind, moon but also, the beauty between heaven and earth.

Ukai Ikkei sat in a rare drop of winter sunlight, sipping tea thickened with dark honey. He nodded off, watching the snow melt off a tree branch crossing his window.

Though he did not like to admit it, he was getting old. He felt the chill in his bones. His letters to Nekomata were no longer as barbed, almost friendly, relieving their glory days through ink on paper. Warmongering was for the younger generation—he thought privately to himself. He was far more interested in the opulence of the Emperor’s court in Kyoto where the old fleabag Nekomata held sway.

His former adversary had also been blessed with children. Though if they were anything like his, they must have seemed like curse on the best of days. Ikkei squinted at his good-for-nothing grandson, whom, for the last half an hour, had been coughing, trying to draw his attention. He looked half-presentable for once, yellow hair slicked back with water and pinned with a copper crown. He had been out courting, Ikkei thought sourly and held back a snort. Keishin was the heir apparent to Karasuno Clan. His mate was not one to be fought for but arranged.

“Stop your incessant noise. I want no visitors today. Tell them to go away.”

“You are the daitengu, granddad. Yokai flock from miles away for your council.” When Ikkei swelled in irritation, Keishin hastily added, “It’s Aunt Touka. Come on, you have to see her.”

Touka was from his very last clutch. A promising young hatchling and the cleverest of his daughters. Or at least she was until she decided to marry a chin bird **[1]**.

Ikkei grunted his assent.

“Very well, let her in.”

She had sent no letters, no birds, or whatever messenger that was available on the shores of Mangokuura Sea. But Ikkei had a very good idea as to why his daughter had taken an entire day’s flight unannounced. With a caw, he flexed his wings and shrank down to his human form.

Touka was not alone. She had brought her brood and her useless husband. Ikkei saw that despite the break from the main house, Touka looked well—clever girl. She had a small boy at her side. The girls in his son-in-law’s arms were twins, double-yolked **[2]** from the look of them.

In spite of himself, he swelled in pride at the excellent additions to the clan.

“Father you look well.”

“Spare me the pleasantries.” Ikkei croaked, waving off the baskets of spirits and rice. “You come to me as a petitioner.” He slid a red mask into place, looking at them hard over the long nose. “Speak your case.”

“Very well.” Touka said graciously, sweeping her arms back in a bow. “I seek protection for my son, Daichi.”

She gently pushed the child forward for his inspection. The boy looked startled, tiny hand rubbing at the spot on his shoulder where he had been touched. But he puffed up his tiny chest and stared straight to be inspected, a grave expression settling over his round face.

The boy wore vermillion silks, a bright yellow obi tied into a bow at his back. The tips of his fingers were dyed, his feet socked and balanced on top of a pair of tall, wooden geta. At first glance, he looked like a little girl **[3]**. Someone to be treasured, cared for and to be looked at from afar. Ikkei supposed that if the rumors were true, everyone had a good reason to keep away.

Young Ushijima had recently been abed with fever. Touka had written to every youkai with even a hint of wit that owed her a favor.

Keishin had always been good for gossip.

“I did warn you what would happen if he did not breed true.”

“He bred true.” She said evenly. “You saw his egg when he was laid. He bred true. He is himself.”

“He almost killed the Ushijima fledgling.”

“It was an accident!” Daichi broke out suddenly. “I didn’t mean to!”

“Accident or not.” Ikkei pointed out. “You should have finished the job. It would do the harpy good to be cut at the knees.”

Daichi looked down with watery eyes, dotting the wood with his tears. Touka shot him a poisonous glare, almost as potent as the feathers of a chin bird. 

“Shh darling boy, don’t cry.” She said, tilting his head back and blotting his tears. Her sleeves, trimmed bright fuchsia and green, began to smoke and unravel. “You saved him.” She cooed and dropped a brief kiss on his forehead.

His son-in-law, letting his twin girls down to explore, drew a short feather from his sleeve and pressed the quill on the ground, drawing poison from the grain. He went to Touka and took her hands in his own.

At his displeased tut, Sawamura Unitsu stared back baldly. His one wing was out in full display, long plumes trailing like the vibrant train of a peacock who could not use them to fly. Though never very common, chin birds were hunted to near extinction during the warring states period, prized as tools for assassination. It was said that a chin bird’s poison was so deadly that it needed only to pass through one’s lips to kill. Ikkei had the rare fortune of observing the poison’s effects first hand during one of his campaigns. It was not a fate he could lightly confer onto anyone.

Sawamura Unitsu was the last of his kind. Or he was until Daichi was born.

Daichi had been laid in a shell of resplendent green. Touka named him while he was still in egg. So enamored, so proud and certain that he had bred true.

Ikkei was also at his hatching day. Daichi had cut through his egg and stared at his audience, his eyes bright and clear. He had looked like any other hatchling, pink with smoke-black down starting at his spine.

“You heard what happened.” Unitsu said.

“Yes.”

“Who else knows?”

“Why does it matter?” Ikkei retorted.

“He needs protection.” Unitsu stressed, allowing his son to cling his dark haori.

Ikkei grinned behind his mask.

“How did you keep Shiratorizawa quiet?”

Unitsu’s eyes flashed quietly.

“We bargained for the life of his son.”

“You gave the boy a heartfeather.” Ikkei said in disapproval.

Unitsu nodded. 

It was a testament to Unitsu’s craftiness that he survived. They called him a cripple behind his back. A bird with only one wing—a bird that could not fly. But Ikkei would have not given Touka away, not for all the treasures under heaven, if he thought Unitsu hadn’t been worthy.

The heartfeather came from the breast of a chin bird, a soft plume under the barbs of the usual poisonfeathers that gave the user immunity against all poisons. But it could only be given. So many had been killed senselessly for a feather that could not be taken.

Ikkei scowled. Now Shiratorizawa would be even more insufferable.

“Daichi, sweetheart, give your grandfather a heartfeather.”

Daichi drew back immediately.

“No.”

Touka frowned.

“Daichi.”

“No!” the boy protested. He looked to his father. “You said I should only give my heartfeathers to someone I love!”

“Daichi.” Unitsu said sternly. “I also told you that you should listen to your mother.”

The boy escaped his mother’s hands and ran in a circle.

“No.” Ikkei interrupted, amused. “He is right.”

“Graddad.” Keishin objected, hands full with the twins.

“He has fire.” Ikkei praised and slapped one knee. “Come here boy.” His grandson took a moment to decide and shuffled up to him, shy, not at all a boisterous young thing as all tengu hatchlings should be. He would fix that soon enough. “Do you know who I am?”

“Momma said you were my grandfather and that you were ornery as an old hen.” Daichi recited dutifully.

Touka sighed in the background.

Keishin, his no-good-replaceable-grandson, laughed.

“Show me your wings.” Ikkei demanded.

The boy’s wings were covered in a fluffy down. His pin feathers had yet to come in. For the hatchling to have poisoned the fledgling heir of Shiratorizawa so badly that his father could not save him, his poison was potent indeed. The boy held them tight against his back as though someone had threatened to tear them off. Ikkei had a guess to whom and his mouth twisted as though he had bitten into something sour.

He was really getting too soft in his old age, already protective of a grandson who wasn’t even a tengu. When he was younger, he used to toss weaker hatchlings off the family nest and waited for them to climb back up before feeding them.

Daichi’s wings would grow black like his mother’s. He would pass.

“You will need to learn control.” Ikkei said grimly.

Daichi nodded.

“Very well.” Ikkei said, addressing Touka and her family. “I will lend him my protection. But.” He added on, “He stays here. In Wakimoto Castle.”

Touka opened her mouth as though to protest and clicked her teeth shut, smoothing her frustration into a benign smile. In spite of himself, Ikkei felt a cold shiver go down his back. His useless son-in-law spread his wing.

“You will need feathers.”

Ikkei waved him off.

“No. The only way for the boy to learn is through practice.” He would need to stock up on xiniu horn; he supposed that the clan of spiders down south were due for a raid. He looked at Daichi and commanded, “You will learn to be karasu-tengu.”

Sawamura Daichi was a strange little boy. Quiet and melancholy, a stark contrast to the flock of children that were lobbing snowballs outside.

After his family left, Daichi sat at his window, perhaps waiting for them to come back and take him away.

“Will I see them again?” He said suddenly.

Keishin kind of had the urge to hug him but he didn’t want to die.

“In time kid,” he knelt at his side and gently bumped him with a shoulder. His cousin looked surprised and rubbed at his arm where he had been bumped. “Granddad isn’t so bad. He only looks grumpy all the time.”

“Oh.”

“So, Ushijima?” He was curious. What was the esteemed heir to Shiratorizawa doing with auntie Touka’s family in the first place? And shit, Daichi looked like he was about to cry.

“We were just playing. He was trying to groom my wings.”

Keishin frowned.

“Keishin!” His granddad called.

“Duty calls.” He sighed. “You’ll be alright, right Daichi?”

Daichi nodded but Keishin wasn’t convinced. He held out a pinky finger. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. I’ll take you out tomorrow and you can meet some of the other kids your age instead of staying inside this crusty old castle.”

“But what if I hurt someone again?”

“You have to learn control.” Keishin repeated granddad’s words. “Your dad doesn’t hurt people when he touches them right?” Daichi nodded quickly, looking a little bit better. Keishin still had his pinky out and it occurred to him Daichi might not know what to do with it. He steeled himself and take a deep breath. “This is a promise.” He told his little cousin. “A pinky promise.” He elaborated. “It means that this promise can’t be broken. Promise to be careful so you don’t hurt anyone.”

He slowly took Daichi’s hand and hooked his pinky with his own. “You have to make a promise too.”

“I promise. I promise I’ll be careful so I don’t hurt anyone.”

“Keishin!!” Granddad sounded impatient but he didn’t move. Look at that, he wasn’t dead.

“You’re gonna do great.”

Daichi smiled.

**Author's Note:**

>  **[1]** Chin – Japanese translation of Zhenniao or the Chinese Poisonfeather birds. A mythical bird so poisonous its shit could melt rock.  
>  **[2]** Double-yolked – in this story, it means that the twins were hatched from the same egg rather than being from a same clutch.  
>  **[3]** Japan has a saying that a boy who is raised in a girl’s clothing will grow up healthy.


End file.
